The rivets are a whole lot easier to replace than the vin tag. I'd wait and hope it turns up, either somewhere in the car or during a shop raid. Technically any vin removal or tampering is a big no-no but people do it all the time on restoration work, some cars need the whole body tub replaced, some makes of cars the vin is attached to the dash panel itself, and the dash needs replaced. It happens all the time. Rivets aren't just laying around for everyone to get ahold of but they can be found. Hell, being a LEO probably helps with that search.
Good to see you got most of it back, sucks that the truck needs repainted. Obviously the last act of desperate people feeling heat. At least you can take comfort in that, as you continue to track them down. I'm sure you'll fix the truck, it might be totalled on paper but you'll keep it and respray it. If I had a 7.3 powerstroke in that condition i'd never get rid of it!! New diesels aren't worth a sh!t compared to a 7.3 powerstroke or a 5.9 cummins. When I read they were stolen my heart sank like everyone else's, but I had a feeling that they might have taken one that was a little too hot. Let's see, a well known car full of unique parts owned by an LEO, nice thinking thieves. Still got one to recover, but the trail is a lot easier to track now.
Good to see you got most of it back, sucks that the truck needs repainted. Obviously the last act of desperate people feeling heat. At least you can take comfort in that, as you continue to track them down. I'm sure you'll fix the truck, it might be totalled on paper but you'll keep it and respray it. If I had a 7.3 powerstroke in that condition i'd never get rid of it!! New diesels aren't worth a sh!t compared to a 7.3 powerstroke or a 5.9 cummins. When I read they were stolen my heart sank like everyone else's, but I had a feeling that they might have taken one that was a little too hot. Let's see, a well known car full of unique parts owned by an LEO, nice thinking thieves. Still got one to recover, but the trail is a lot easier to track now.
Hopefully they didn't get their sleazy hands on the internals.